This Is A First For Me!

[MV Searcher]

In 40+ years of metal detecting I have never found one of these. At first, I had no idea what I had found but online research soon provided the information I needed. What is it? ... it is an Irish Communion Token dating from the late 1700s to early 1800s. It was found at the location of an old,  now non-existent, colonial home. It measures about 1 inch long by 1/2 inch wide and is made of lead. I think the letters R C stood for the pastor of the church. You can research communion tokens online and their history and usage is quite interesting. See below for additional items found at this site.

[JCR]

Very neat.

[CalReg]

Very cool find!

[dave_e]

I absolutely love that find.

Very unique.

[L David Keith]

As Peter Preston-Morley, Head of Coin Department at Dix Noonan Webb, explains: “Communion tokens are derived from the Irish wars of religion of the mid 1600s. Protestants assembled in large church meetings, which served, not just as religious meetings, but also as political gatherings. To keep track of just who was attending these larger meetings, which were subject to activities of political spies and people that did not belong, communion tokens came into being. They were given to known local congregants by the priest or pastor to whom, like the Catholics, confession was made. The tokens would then be surrendered upon taking communion at the larger church meetings. The tokens, thus, act as passes, allowing members from smaller congregations to assemble in larger churches and not be deemed political spies, or worse, unrepentant sinners.           ”A lot of info here as well as many pics of such tokens

[rvpopeye]

Cool find , I thought it was a buckle.

Verrrrrry interestingsk LDK! 🧐